News

IMF explains that the growth momentum in
Nigeria will see an average rise in sub-Saharan Africa economy from
2.7% in 2017 to 3.1% in 2018.

IMF says Nigerian economy will
grow by 1.9% in 2018, higher than the 0.8% growth recorded in
2017.

Average growth for
sub-Saharan Africa will hit 3.1% in 2018 from 2.7% in
2017.

Nigeria service debt with
more 50% of its revenue.

The International Monetary Fund
(IMF) says Nigerian economy will grow by 1.9% in 2018, higher than
the 0.8% growth recorded in 2017.

Amine Mati, IMF's
senior representative in Nigeria, explained that the rise will be
buoyed by some pick-up in the non-oil sector of the economy.

He stated this during his
presentation of the Fall 2018 Regional Economic Outlook for
Sub-Saharan Africa in Abuja on Thursday, November 08, 2018.

Mati further stated that average
growth for sub-Saharan Africa will hit 3.1% in 2018 from 2.7% in
2017.

The economic expert said, “the
recovery is expected to contribute about 0.7 percentage points to
the region’s average growth in 2018 and lift activity in Nigeria’s
trading partners through stronger remittances, financial spillovers
and import demand.”

According to him, recovery in
sub-Saharan Africa is expected to continue amidst rising risks as
growth momentum improved most notably for oil exporters, mainly in
Nigeria, but remains subdued in South Africa, noting that as the
magnitude of capital flows to the region increased, the volatility
also increased.

Mati said though Nigeria’s debt to
GDP was quite low, more than 50% of revenue went into interest
payments.

He said that increase in revenue
was very important to bridge the gap to ensure that revenue to GDP
was sufficient to pay up and service the debt profitably.

Nigeria’s economy record slow
growth in Q2

Nigeria’s economy recorded slow growth in the second quarter
of 2018 as oil sector contracted by 3.95% compared to 14.77% growth
in the first quarter and 3.53% year-on-year.

For the first time since the exit
from recession, growth was driven by the non-oil sector which grew
by 2.05%, the strongest growth since the first quarter of 2015.